Camp Re-Generation Details
Camp Re-Generation Week 1: Ecological Gardening and Permacultures
Ever wanted to grow your own food? It's easy, and fun! Join Eden Vardy and other high altitude gardening experts to learn about gardening practices that are in unison with nature. We will plant trees, design and build garden beds, learn about composting, and explore how seemingly different ecological elements can work together. Students will learn to interpret different landscape features and determine appropriate garden applications for any setting using "permaculture" observation principals!
Participants who enroll in more than four weeks of the camp will have the opportunity to harvest, cook, and eat from the garden they design in this series!
Camp Re-Generation Week 2: Sustainable Living in Abundance
June 21-25, 2010
Who said sustainable living has to be difficult? In this series, students will learn of the simplicity, ease, and joy of living sustainably. We will identify resources that are abundant at Rock Bottom Ranch (sunlight, water, enthusiasm, animals, etc.) and explore the vast potential of each element. Students will learn to distinguish between abundance and scarcity, and appreciate the simple things in life, as well as identify how to use common resources to their full potential.
Camp Re-Generation Week 3: Raising Animals
June 28-July 2, 2010
Goats! Chicks! Horses! Cows! In this series, we will learn the basics of taking care of our furry (and feathery) friends. Students will identify the basics needs of different animals and discover the joys of raising them! We will milk goats and cows, ride horses, gather eggs from chickens, and hatch and name our own chicks! Students will comprehend safety around animals, and understand basics of raising them.
This series will be continued week 4 where we will make dairy products (cheese, yogurt, butter) from the animals we became acquainted with. This course is a recommended, though not required prerequisite for week 4.
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Camp Regeneration Week 4: Dairy for you!
July 5-9, 2010
Ever wonder how to make cheese? Ever want to milk a goat? Join us during this series and learn about the entire dairy process: from teet to table! Students will investigate how to milk goats and cows in a friendly way, and discover how to create various dairy products including butter, yogurt, and cheese. Additionally, students will learn food handling safety and about Colorado code for marketing products. Participants will each take home their dairy creations!
Though not required, it is strongly recommended that participants also enroll in the previous series "raising animals" to better understand safety in regards to being around animals.
Camp Regeneration Week 5- Spinning, Weaving, and Traditional Arts
July 12-16, 2010
Learn how to produce crafts like our ancestors did! During this week we will be producing crafts from hand spun wool that we have harvested, learning how to make simple crochet and knitting patterns, constructing easy to do art projects out of naturally found materials, and participating in hands on weaving projects together. This series will allow students to gain skills in craftiness through resourceful techniques, thus creating your own individual art! We will be using materials in our projects that you can find locally or in your own backyard!
Camp Regeneration Week 6: Wild Crafting and Tracking
July 19-23, 2010
Come and explore with us as we take hikes through our beautiful mountains and discover nature in a whole new way! During this series, we will learn how to identify plants and decipher their medicinal and first aid uses, create tools, survive off wildcrafted food, track animals and learn about the local ecology! Our local mountains are full of useful plants that ancient cultures used for survival, food, and medicine. This will be the first of three weeks themed on learning primitive skills, nature awareness, and working together to be more observant of mother Earth!
Join us during week 7 to make tinctures, salves, and herbal remedies from the herbs we wild-craft in this series!
Camp Regeneration Week 7: Making Tinctures, Salves, and Herbal Remedies
July 26-30, 2010
August 2-6, 2010
I will survive! This series continues us on our nature awareness journey as we learn about useful primitive skills. Long time expert Robin Blankenship will co teach this experience giving us the chance to transform our ancestors skills into our own! We will work together to create friction fires, flint-knap a stone to a razor's edge, shape pottery containers for cooking and water storage, make dyes, construct our own bow and arrow, and so much more! Each student will bring home their own constructed creations!
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Camp Regeneration Week 9: MUD Building!
August 9-13, 2010
Time to get your hands dirty! During this series, we will we will learn the basics of truly "green" building (actually brown building!) and construct our very own earthen bench. We will create a design together, choose its appropriate location, and physically construct it- literally from the ground up! We will also dabble in sealing, and painting with natural pigments. Students of all ages will love this series... who knew getting muddy could be so rewarding?!
Camp Regeneration Week 10: Sustaining Energy!
August 16-20, 2010
Feel the Energy! Power sources are all around us, and very accessible... so why do we drill so deep to get most of ours? Come learn about renewable energy sources, how to capture their power and turn it into everyday use. Students will discover appropriate solutions for energy needs in our ranch setting, and learn to identify which source is best for any location. Oil and fossils fuels should be considered alternative energy anyways!
This series will include a number of field trips, including one to the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). This world- renowned institute provides examples of state of the art appropriate technologies!
Camp Regeneration Week 11: Traditional Cooking, Baking, and Preserving
August 23-27, 2010
Cooking in Nature's kitchen! In this series, we will discover how our ancestors worked with food. We will harvest goods from our garden (that the students built, planted, and tended over the summer) and prepare them using different cooking, baking, and preserving techniques. Participants will discover how to cook and bake over an open fire. Students will also learn to distinguish between different food preservation techniques: canning, jarring, dehydrating, fermenting, freezing, and smoking. Every participant will have something to take home and enjoy for the winter!
Students are also invited to our garden party on Saturday, August 28th, to celebrate with the students of our adult education series. During this party, we will bake pizzas with garden harvested ingredients in the traditional "mud" oven built during the adult "Natural Building" Series.
Camp Regeneration Week 12: INTEGRATE! Wholesome Living for Everyone
August 30- September 3, 2010
Bring it all together! in this FINAL series of Camp- Regeneration, students will learn to integrate the skills gained over the entire summer into their daily lives, and how to share them with the greater world. We will identify actionable steps for bringing sustainability into our own lives, and explore methods for sharing and guiding our peers. Participants will learn different communication and group participation exercises. Students will discover basic leadership skills and assess how to discriminate between productive and destructive leadership.
Though this series can be signed up for on its own, it is strongly recommended that students participate in at least 4 weeks of Camp-Regeneration before this one.